Red is the troubled son of a local police officer, Dana, who doesn’t want to be associated with him anymore. She is trying to raise her other son to stay out of trouble, unlike Red, who deals drugs and hangs out with gangs. However, Dana’s own life is coming unglued as she tries to rediscover the faith she left behind. As Red shifts from one high to the next in search of true purpose, will he ever find the Creator Who is calling out to him?

Production Quality (1 point)

To be billed as a high quality production, Ashes of Eden fails miserably. It looks good on the surface with okay video quality, but other elements are highly unprofessional, such as the overdriven audio quality, the shaky camera work, and the inconsistent lighting. However, the soundtrack is very intriguing and seems out of place in this train wreck. Furthermore, the editing is very choppy as some scenes are cut very short and transitions are overall awkward and confusing. In short, it seems like LightWorx Entertainment often gives themselves too much credit when it comes to production quality.

Plot and Storyline Quality (.5 point)

Ashes of Eden is an unusual attempt to portray overly-realistic ‘street’ situations and focuses far too much on the down and dirty without offering much hope. The storyline is very depressing and seemingly pointless as characters go from bad to worse, spew random and unnecessary profanity, and constantly shoot each other. There is little redemption for these unfortunately realistic characters as the audience is left lost as to what they are supposed to learn. Also, there are too many head-scratching scenes that have little point or purpose. But despite all of this, the ending is interesting and shows a little bit of potential, even though it is too little too late and does not redeem the mess the viewer is forced to sit through to get to it. Basically, Shane Hagedorn needs to learn how to be edgy without being just like your average trashy film.

Acting Quality (.5 point)

This cast is trying to be something, but it just doesn’t work. They post underwhelming performances when they seem like they could do better as they do not reach their full potential. Emotions are very inconsistent and there is far too much yelling. In the end, this section reflects the rest of the film.

Conclusion

We aren’t really sure what DJ Perry, Shane Hagedorn, and LightWorx are trying to do. They have interesting ideas that are executed very poorly. In their attempts to be artistic, they either lost the purpose or come off as very dark. If you’re going to venture into edgy content, you have to do it tastefully and you have to provide real and meaningful redemption. Otherwise, you’re not any better than some random PG-13 or R-rated film on video streaming services.

Final Rating: 2 out of 10 points

Full disclosure: We were provided by the creator with a copy of this film in exchange for a fair and honest review